


Hungry Eyes

by ButterflyMama78



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:15:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23519053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButterflyMama78/pseuds/ButterflyMama78
Summary: Reader is injured during an exploratory mission and is stranded with her crush, Leonard McCoy... on her birthday.  She has an interesting... and embarrassing... reaction to the meds he gives her.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Reader
Comments: 9
Kudos: 104





	Hungry Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fanficfaerie's 3500 follower celebration on tumblr. 
> 
> I decided to have the incident happen on the reader's birthday, since the person who posted the celebration had hers this past weekend and my birthday is Friday. If any of my readers are celebrating a birthday this month, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Love you all!
> 
> Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay sane! <3

“McCoy to Enterprise, Scotty, do you read me?” Leonard paced ten steps further away from the cave he’d found and tried again. “McCoy to-- dammit! If anyone can hear me, this is McCoy. Ensign Y/L/N and I are still stuck on this godforsaken rock, Y/L/N has a head injury that needs immediate medical attention and I’m not liking the looks of the purple clouds building on the horizon!” He snapped the communicator shut and shoved it in his pocket before stalking back to the cave. “No luck, Darlin’,” he sighed heavily, ducking down to avoid hitting his head on the low overhang. “Looks like we’re stuck.”  
Y/N’s eyes fluttered shut. She groaned. “I’ve had worse birthdays,” she said after a moment. She shifted on the hard ground and whined when pain shot through her head from the movement.  
Leonard dropped to his knees beside her. “Today’s your birthday?” His brow furrowed over his hazel eyes as he fished his tricorder from his pocket to run another scan.  
She nodded. “Uh-huh,” she opened her eyes to look up at him despite the blinding pain shooting through her head from the gesture. “If I’m stranded on a strange planet on my birthday, I’m glad I’m stranded with you,” she managed a weak smile.  
The doctor grabbed his bag where he’d set it by her booted feet. “Sugar, I don’t know if I’d count that as a good thing,” he warned as he pulled out his medkit and popped it open. He grabbed a hypospray, “I’m the worst person to be stranded with.”  
Y/N watched him load the device. “You’ve been the perfect companion so far,” she squeezed her eyes shut when his fingertips grazed her neck.  
He snorted. “I dragged you out of that ravine, field-dressed your head, carried you over my shoulder up another damned hill and made you lay down on this damp, hard ground. Hardly the perfect companion, Sweetheart.”  
“You did what you had to do to get me to a safe location and call for transport,” she flinched when he administered the hypo. She sighed when he began to massage the injection site. “How long before it kicks in?”  
“Shouldn’t take too long,” He pulled his hand away. “Once it kicks in I’ll stitch up that gash on your forehead. I’d rather do it in my Medbay in a sterile environment, but I can’t risk infection setting in if I don’t act now.”  
She frowned and whined again in pain. “Owww… You didn’t give me pain medication?”  
“I did, before I dragged you out of that ravine,” he frowned back. “This is a local anesthetic.”  
“A local…” Her eyes widened. “If… If I say something weird or do something weird, I apologize now,” she reached up to cover her face. “I don’t handle any anesthetic very well…”  
Leonard’s eyes narrowed as he caught her hands. “Don’t touch your forehead, Sweetheart. Now, what do you mean you don’t handle anesthetic very well?” His eyes searched hers. He reached for the medkit to grab the penlight he kept in there.  
“Your eyes are so beautiful,” she sighed.  
He looked up sharply. “Hell,” he muttered under his breath. “This wasn’t in your medical records…”  
“Not allergic, just… you’re really sexy when you frown like that,” she smiled. “Everyone else finds it scary… not me. I really like it.”  
“Dammit all to hell,” he swore quietly. “All right, can you feel anything?”  
“I feel all floaty,” her eyes slid shut. “Am I dreaming?”  
“Maybe,” he muttered. “Sweetheart, I’m going to shine this light in your eyes. I need to check your pupils.”  
“Nothin’ wrong with my eyes, Dr. McCoy, I can see just fine,” she murmured. “You get this dimple when you frown, right here,” she reached up and nearly smacked his nose when she tried to touch the divot between his eyebrows. “It’s adorable.”  
Leonard could not help but chuckle at her. “That’s one word nobody has ever used to describe anything about me, Sweetheart,” he admitted.  
“They’re idiots, every last one of ‘em.”  
“Keep your eyes on that dimple, this light is bright, but I gotta check,” he warned.  
“Okay.”  
He turned on the light and quickly shined it in her right eye, then the left. Her pupils did not constrict. His frown deepened. “All done, Sweetheart,” he turned off the light and tucked it away. “No promises, but I am going to try to be as gentle as I can stitchin’ ya up.”  
“‘Kay… If we were home… would you just use the dermal?”  
“Not yet,” he shook his head. “Cut’s a little too deep for the regen, Y/N. I’d still stitch it up. The dermal would be to further advance the healing and lessen the chances of scarring.”  
“You have a scar,” she reached up again to touch his chin and the scar below his lip. “Right here. Scars are sexy.”  
“No, they’re not,” he groaned at her soft, uncoordinated touch. He gently caught her hand and lowered it to her stomach. “Can you keep your hands to yourself so I can stitch you up?”  
“I don’t know about that…” she sighed. “How’d you get that scar?”  
He groaned. “I’ll tell you about it as I stitch you up, how’s that? I’m gonna try to comm the Enterprise again before I start, though. Sit tight.”  
“Not goin’ anywhere,” her speech slurred slightly as he stood up.  
“I know, Sweetheart,” he shot her a worried frown before turning away.  
He stalked out of the cave as he pulled his communicator out of his pocket. “McCoy to Enterprise.”  
“Bones!” Jim’s voice crackled and faded slightly. “We’ve-- trying-- comm you-- we lost your --nal!”  
“Slow down, Kid, you’re breaking up,” Leonard paced further from the cave’s mouth until the unit stopped crackling. “Ensign Y/L/N and I are holed up in a cave at the moment. She’s got a head injury I need to stitch up and a concussion on top of it.”  
“Shit.”  
“Yeah,” he echoed Jim’s sentiment. “Transporter down?”  
“Yeah, Scotty’s working on it,” the captain relayed. “Could be hours. I’d send a shuttle, but Spock doesn’t like the looks of that storm brewing.”  
“I’ve seen worse,” the doctor eyed the swirling purple clouds.  
“Doctor, we do not have any data on storms for this planet,” Spock’s voice chimed in.  
He rolled his eyes. “I’d rather not risk a shuttle anyway, with Y/N’s concussion. Does Scotty have a time frame?”  
“No,” Jim groaned. “I’m hoping it won’t be all night, Bones.”  
“If it is, I’m somewhat prepared,” he grimaced, looking over his shoulder toward the cave. “You always give me crap about keeping my medkit and mission bag stocked up with more than what I could possibly need, but Y/N will be thanking me for it later.”  
“How bad is it, Bones?”  
He snorted. “You remember how drunk the kid across the hall in the dorm got from one glass of Saurian brandy?”  
“Half a glass, he was butchering ‘Tubthumping’,” Jim chuckled.  
“Y/N can’t handle a local anesthetic…” he trailed off when he heard something coming from the cave. “Shit, she’s singing now,” he groaned.  
“What was she doing before?”  
“Flirting.”  
“Ensign Y/L/N doesn’t flirt,” the captain sounded amused. “She gets tongue-tied around you, Bones.”  
“I know,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “She’s either going to forget all about this, with the concussion, or she’s going to remember it all and avoid me like the plague out of sheer embarrassment.”  
“Out of curiosity, what’s she singing?”  
Leonard rolled his eyes. “Sounds like an old Earth song,” he moved closer to the cave and strained to listen. “Can’t believe I’m doing this…”  
“Get close enough so I can hear it,” Jim told him.  
“With these hungry eyes… one look at you and I can’t disguise, I’ve got hungry eyes… I feel the magic between you and I…”  
Laughter erupted from the comm.  
“What’s so damned funny, Kid? She’s injured, she’s got a concussion, she’s having a reaction to the meds I gave her, and we’re stranded!” Leonard barely reined in his temper.  
“Song’s from an old movie, Dirty Dancing. Nobody puts Baby in the corner? Jo Jo loves it,” Jim explained. “I… uh… I teased Y/N about the way I caught her looking at you. Told her she had hungry eyes.”  
“You what?!?!?!” the doctor exploded. “Dammit, Jim!”  
“Relax, Bones, all I said to her was ‘you’ve got hungry eyes’, I made sure no one heard me say it, and told her to stay safe on the mission.”  
“What the hell does that even mean, hungry eyes?”  
“She likes you. She’s just too shy to do anything about it. She still singing?”  
“No,” Leonard frowned worriedly. “I’ll check in once I’ve got her stitched up. If Scotty gets that transporter fixed before I check in, tell him to not beam us up.”  
“You got it. Kirk out.”  
He snapped the comm shut and jogged back into the cave. “Sorry, Darlin’, transporters are still down and it looks like we might be here all night,” he kneeled down beside Y/N. “Y/N?” He took her face in his hands and brushed the tears away with his thumbs. “No, no, Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”  
“I thought you left me behind,” she sniffled. “I’m sorry if I said anything embarrassing to you, I don’t want you to hate me.”  
“I could never hate you, Darlin’,” he shook his head. “Let’s get you fixed up and settle in for a while.”  
She nodded and groaned. “I might throw up on you,” she warned.  
“Wouldn’t be the first time anyone has,” he chuckled. “My ex-wife threw up on me a few times. She drank too much at a party in college, then morning sickness. My daughter threw up on me a lot before we figured out the formula she was on irritated her stomach. Jim’s puked on me a few times after a long night of partying.” He pulled back. “Let’s get you comfortable and cleaned up before I start stitching up your forehead.”  
“Okay,” she sniffed. “Can you… can you talk to me? While you stitch me up? I’ve… never had stitches and I’m scared,” she admitted.  
“I promised I’d tell you how I got this scar, didn’t I?” He smiled as he pointed to his chin. He shifted back a little to unzip his flight suit. He shrugged out of the sleeves and let the top fall before pulling off the long-sleeved black shirt he wore beneath it. “Can’t have the cuffs of my sleeves contaminating the wound while I stitch ya up,” he explained. He folded the shirt and leaned over her. “I’m gonna slip this under your head for now.”  
“Why can’t this be mandatory uniform?” Y/N lightly tugged at the snug black tank top he had on. “Better ‘n the tunics…”  
“I’ll pass your recommendation along, Darlin’,” he felt his cheeks warm. “It’s too cold on the ship, if you ask me. Don’t know how you ladies handle wearin’ the dresses with the short sleeves all the time.”  
“Tights and cardigans,” she closed her eyes. “Commander Spock approved it for those of us who get cold easily.”  
“Could be something as simple as a change in daily vitamin regimen, Darlin’,” he murmured, grabbing for his medkit. He pulled out the mini sanitizing wand. “Let’s get everything sterilized here. Are ya still feelin’ numb?”  
“Yeah,” she closed her eyes. “Your voice is soothing…”  
He smiled. “Never been told that before, I’m accused of yelling most of the time.”  
“At the captain and the engineers,” she nodded. “You never yell at us scientists.”  
“I never yell at the sensible ones,” he agreed, setting the wand back in the kit. He grabbed the suture needle and suture thread. “Tell me if you start to feel any pain, all right? I can’t administer another anesthetic or pain hypo until these wear off, but I have something that will help. I’m not supposed to have it, it’s against regulations, but I’ve got it labeled for medical use.”  
“I’ve heard rumors of a flask of bourbon,” she grimaced.  
“Not a drinker?”  
“I prefer fruity flavored drinks.”  
He frowned thoughtfully, storing that little bit of information away. “Here we go,” he warned. “About the scar on my chin… I was ten at the time, in the fourth grade. We had a new student transfer in after winter break. Cute little brunette. I wound up developing a huge crush on her. But she never paid any attention to me. Never looked my way, always just walked right by and ignored me. One Friday afternoon it was warm out, the teacher decided to give the class a twenty minute break from learning and took us outside to the playground. I very unwisely decided to show off and attempted a handstand on top of the jungle gym. Ten feet off the ground, top of the damned slide. One minute I’m balanced on my hands, arms shaking, the next I decide to attempt it with one hand… and I fall. Busted my chin open on the slide, broke my arm when I tumbled off. Mom about had a heart attack when she came to pick me up, and Dad… he just shook his head and asked if I got the girl’s attention.”  
“Did you?”  
He frowned at the subdued tone in Y/N’s voice. “No. We later found out she wasn’t interested in boys at all, she had a crush on my sister’s best friend. Wouldn’t have done me any good anyway, my parents wouldn’t let me date until I got my license and a job.” He grinned, “One good thing came out of trying to show off, though.”  
“What’s that?” She winced when he pushed the needle through for the seventh stitch.  
“You all right, Darlin’?”  
“I felt that one,” she admitted.  
“Three more after this one, do you want to try the bourbon?”  
She started to shake her head but stopped. “N-no.”  
“Okay. Tell me if you change your mind,” he told her. “Now, where was I…”  
“What was the good thing about showing off?”  
“Ah… That’s right. My dad was a doctor, so Mom took me straight to the hospital where he worked. Even though he couldn’t stitch me up himself he recorded it because he knew I was interested in following his footsteps. Mom thought he lost his mind, but Dad pointed out that this might cement my decision one way or another on becoming a doctor. Now, I’ll admit, I threw up the first time I watched the video. Hell, I threw up when they set my arm before they put it in an air cast until I could be scheduled for surgery. That was recorded, too. Even though I threw up, I thought it was the neatest damned thing I’d ever seen and told my parents I definitely wanted to become a doctor. I wanted to become a surgeon… Sorry, Darlin’, one more stitch to go.”  
“And now you’re the chief medical officer on the flagship of Starfleet,” she smiled.  
“I am,” he nodded. “I still perform surgeries as needed, but I get to do so much more than what I did when I was still in Georgia. And I’m really glad I joined Starfleet.” He finished off the last suture. “There we go,” he murmured.  
Y/N’s eyes slid shut. “I’m glad you joined, too…”  
Leonard fumbled as he dropped the needle, scissors and forceps into the medkit and grabbed the hypo and a vial containing antibiotics. “One more hypo to fight off any possible infection,” he warned. “Then I’ll wrap you up and comm the Enterprise once more. Are you hurting?”  
“Yeah… a little,” she admitted. She whimpered when he administered the antibiotic.  
“I know, Sweetheart,” he massaged her neck. “Want that bourbon now?”  
“No.”  
“Okay,” he grabbed the gauze. “Can you sit up for me?”  
Y/N shifted onto her elbows before groaning. Leonard reached out and helped her sit up. “There we go,” he steadied her. “I’ll help you lay back down after I wrap your head. Can you hold this in place for me?” He held up an antibacterial pad.  
Y/N reached up. “Okay.”  
Leonard looped the gauze around her head three times. “Now hold this so I can cut it and tie it off. There we go,” he dipped his head to check her eyes before he eased her back down. “Need anything before I comm the captain?”  
She shook her head.  
“All right,” he squeezed her shoulder before moving away from her.  
He pulled the flight suit’s sleeves on once more and zipped it up as he headed for the mouth of the cave. “McCoy to Enterprise.”  
“Good news, Bones, transporter’s fixed,” Jim answered.  
“Good,” Leonard let out a relieved sigh. “I’ll pack my kit and get Y/N. Oh, and Jim?”  
“Yeah, Bones?”  
“Can you do me a huge favor, I need a slice of birthday cake and a candle ready for Y/N. It’s her birthday.”  
“Okay, I can do that,” the captain agreed. “Bones?”  
“Yeah?”  
“You gonna tell her you like her, too?”  
“Shut up,” he snapped the comm shut and headed back to the cave. “Good news, Darlin’, Scotty’s got the transporter fixed!” He kneeled down beside her and smiled when he realized she had fallen asleep.  
He silently packed up his kit and slipped everything into his backpack and shouldered it. He eased his arms under Y/N and lifted her to his chest before pushing to his feet with a grunt.  
The transporter room of the Enterprise had never looked more welcoming. Leonard nodded a thanks to Scotty before making his way toward the nearest Turbolift.  
After leaving instructions with the nurses to clean Y/N up, get her settled and start running scans he headed for his quarters to clean up. He was not one bit surprised to find Jim waiting when he came out of the bathroom after a quick shower.  
“Did ya tell her?”  
“She was sleeping, Jim,” he rolled his eyes. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to get dressed in private.”  
“You keeping her in Medbay for observation?” Jim watched his best friend disappear into the bedroom.  
“Yeah. She hit her head pretty hard when she fell,” Leonard glanced over his shoulder to make sure the captain had not followed. He dropped his towel and started dressing. “I hated just leaving her in medical but I needed to clean myself up so I’m not contaminating a sterile environment.” He walked out of the bedroom with a clean tunic in one hand, boots and socks in the other. “Any reason you’re still here?”  
“Just checking on my best friend,” Jim turned away from the photos lining the wall separating the living and sleeping spaces in Leonard’s quarters. “Must’ve been quite a shock to learn the girl you like likes you back.”  
“Yeah,” he dropped onto the sofa. “Not gonna act on it, though, she was under the influence of a head trauma and medication.”  
“If she doesn’t remember, are you gonna tell her?”  
“Only if she asks,” he raked a hand through his hair before leveling a glare on the captain. “Don’t you dare tease her about any of this.”  
“I won’t,” Jim drew an X over his heart.  
“Or me.”  
He chuckled. “That’s not a promise I will make,” he shook his head. “When do you want the cake and candle?”  
“Before the end of the day,” Leonard pulled the tunic on and stood up. “I need to get back to medical and check on the scans I had my team run.”  
“Anything else you need?”  
He stopped halfway to the door. “No,” he shook his head. “Can’t exactly sneak a cocktail into medbay without the nurses demanding to know where their’s is.”  
Jim laughed. “You forget who you’re talking to, Bones,” he walked by the doctor and slapped his shoulder. “I’ll see what I can do.”  
“I was kidding about the cocktail,” Leonard glared at him.  
“I know,” the captain let himself out. 

It was late when Y/N stirred. She groaned as she opened her eyes.  
Leonard was sound asleep, slouched in the chair beside her with a blanket draped over him (likely from one of the nurses). His hand cradled hers on the bed. A small rolling bed table sat in front of him with a reusable water bottle and a clear container holding, of all things, a cupcake with a candle. She smiled as she shifted her hand under his.  
The doctor startled awake. “You in pain?” He asked, his hazel eyes immediately focusing on the biobed monitor to check her vitals.  
“A little,” she admitted. “Is… is that a cupcake?”  
Leonard gave her a sheepish smile. “Yeah, it is. Thought I’d get one for ya for your birthday.”  
“Thank you.”  
“My pleasure, Darlin’,” he squeezed her hand. “Other than a little pain, how are you feeling?”  
“Disoriented,” she shrugged. “I had some weird dreams, Dr. McCoy,” she looked over at him. “Not weird… That’s not the right word…”  
He frowned. “What were they about? Sweetheart, I’m not being nosy. I’m only asking to make sure it’s not something indicative of a more serious head injury.”  
She grimaced. “They’re… embarrassing,” her eyes shot up to his and away before he could study her pupils.  
“Y/N, no need to worry about being embarrassed if it means helping me diagnose you better,” he shifted in the chair to lean forward. “You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t want to, just give me enough to work with.”  
She nodded. “Can I sit up, please?”  
He reached forward to press a control to raise the head of the bed. “Here,” he stood to adjust the pillows for her. “How’s that?”  
“Better,” she smiled shyly. “I… um… I know I fell and hit my head and the transporter malfunctioned.”  
“Yeah,” he sank down into the chair again and took her hand.  
“My memory is fuzzy after that,” her eyes dropped to their hands. “But my dreams… I dreamed we were in a cave where you were taking care of me. And I was saying things completely out of character to you.”  
“Out of character… how?” Leonard squeezed her hand.  
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m the quiet, shy type, not bold and… flirty,” she whispered the last word. She let out an embarrassed giggle. “I, uh, dreamed I was flirting. Badly. And singing.”  
He cleared his throat. “You’re rememberin’, Sweetheart,” his voice was low, his Southern drawl coming out. “And the flirting wasn’t bad. Trust me, the captain’s my best friend, I’ve seen him in action.”  
She groaned. “I am so sorry,” she pulled her hand free to cover her face.  
He caught her hands. “No need to apologize, Y/N,” he smiled. “Don’t apologize, don’t feel embarrassed. We’ll talk about this when you’re feeling better, all right?”  
“Can I have that cupcake?”  
“Let’s start with something bland first, you were nauseous earlier,” he grinned. “But I can’t light that candle for you to make a wish on, not in here.”  
“You’re already holding my hand,” she smiled back. “My wish already came true.”  
He stood up and leaned forward to brush a soft kiss to her cheek. “Happy birthday, Darlin’,” he murmured.


End file.
